Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Untitled

In a chat with the website Reddit, President Obama called for serious look at a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling.

"Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't revisit it). Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change," Obama wrote.

Critics charge that it has opened the door for big-money anonymous contributors to dominate politics — but many of the third-party issue ads and big money outside groups were legal before the decision.

More immediately, Obama renewed his call for strict disclosure rules.

"Money has always been a factor in politics, but we are seeing something new in the no-holds barred flow of seven and eight figure checks, most undisclosed, into super-PACs; they fundamentally threaten to overwhelm the political process over the long run and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens," Obama wrote.

"We need to start with passing the Disclose Act that is already written and been sponsored in Congress - to at least force disclosure of who is giving to who. We should also pass legislation prohibiting the bundling of campaign contributions from lobbyists," Obama wrote.

Obama's allies are currently running a super PAC on his behalf, but they refuse to accept anonymous donations.